Star Trek:Odyssey 2:02
by rylansato
Summary: The crew of the Alexandria have orders to explore the Gamma Quadrant. Upon arrival, the crew receive a distress signal and they go to investigate. They then find a ship on the planet's surface that they never would've expected.
1. Sineron Two

Star Trek: Odyssey: Episode 02

_Captain's Log: Stardate: 57176.9. We've been ordered to Gamma Quadrant to do some exploring since Starfleet hasn't been to the Gamma Quadrant since the days of the Dominion War. Once over there we are to steer clear of Dominion inhabited territories and begin exploration. First, we are to stop by Deep Space Nine for a little R and R._

With the Alexandria docked at Upper Pylon Two, the promenade was filled with alot more black and grey uniforms than usual. The crew of the Alexandria were all around the station doing a variety of activities. A few were in Quark's Bar either enjoying drinks or playing Dabo, Tongo and even darts. The dart board was occupied by Dr. Plumley, Commander Zofchak, Commander Merriell and Counselor Nycz with a guys versus girls game. So far the girls were winning. The loser of the game had to buy a round of drinks. Quark didn't care about the abundance of Starfleet officers in his bar. He was content as long as he was making money.

Captain Allensworth walked with Colonel Kira around the Promenade. Kira wore her Starfleet uniform instead of her Bajoran uniform. Allensworth recalled seeing her in her Bajoran uniform and admitted that he thought that she looked better in a Starfleet uniform. Allensworth reminded Kira of Captain Sisko. It wasn't really how he looked because other than having dark skin, Allensworth didn't really look like Sisko. It was more of the way how he presented himself she finally figured.

"So you have orders to the Gamma Quadrant?" Kira asked.

"That's right." He replied.

"Just be careful of the Dominion forces. Even though they don't rule the Gamma Quadrant I think they might be a little sore from the war."

"I plan to be."

Ezri Dax stood on the upper level with Security Chief Ro Laren watching the traffic.

"I wonder why they'd be sending a ship into the Gamma Quadrant.?" Erzi asked.

"I don't believe Starfleet has been over there since the Dominion War." Ro said.

Ro noticed a look of worry spread across Ezri's face. The Dax successor caught Ro's concern.

"You're probably getting ready to ask me 'what's wrong?' And it's nothing really just I don't want the Dominion to start anything again."

"Nothing is going to start up and the Dominion don't own the quadrant."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Ezri stood up from her leaning position and began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Ro asked.

"I'm going to meet Julian at Quark's." Ezri said without turning around.

Ro jogged up to catch up with the station's counselor and followed her to the Ferengi's bar.

Hours later, the Sovereign class ship disembarked from Deep Space Nine and increased its impulse towards the wormhole. This was the first time that Allensworth had been through the wormhole or the entire senior staff for that matter. The wormhole swirled into existence from what looked like complete nothingness. The Alexandria flew in without problems. The viewscreen showed a multitude of colors, mainly of blue and yellow. Blue streams passed all around them like water ducts. The occasional white flash lit up the viewscreen as if it was storming inside the wormhole. The crew looked in almost awe but kept their composure and professionalism. Shortly later, the ship emerged from the wormhole in a different quadrant. Merriell checked his instruments.

"We're in the Gamma Quadrant." He reported.

Allensworth stood up from his command chair and stood in between ops and navigation. What's the last planet to be explored by the Federation?"

"According to sensors, we are very near Dominion territory." Merriell said.

A beeping sound filled the bridge. It was coming from the ops station. Merriell pressed a few buttons to see what had alerted his station.

"Sir, we're picking up a distress signal. Audio only."

_Not again._

"Put it on." Allensworth said.

Merriell pressed a button and the distress call filled the air.

"This is Captain Eri...of the Starship...experiencing...Sineron..."

"That's all we have. It repeats after that."

The transmission ended.

"I wasn't aware of any other starships in the area." Sparhawk said.

"I wasn't either. I guess we'll find out who it is and why they're over here." Allensworth said. He turned from his first officer to the navigator. "Helm, set a course for the source of the transmission."

"Course laid in, sir." Moran reported.

"Hit it."

The ship was thrown into warp going towards the nearest system.

Shortly later, the Sovereign class vessel entered a system unknown to them. On the view screen, the pasty streaks of green slowly disintegrated into the familiar void of space. This system was known as the Sineron system.

"Report."

"We entered the Sineron system." Merriell reported. "It consists of seven planets two of which are M class and the second planet of system is able to sustain life."

"Well, we have one part of the mystery solved. Now for the rest. Head for that planet and enter a high orbit."

Moran pressed a few buttons on her panel and the ship moved towards the Earth like planet. A large planet with brilliant blue oceans and fertile plains swooped into view alongside the stars.

"High orbit achieved, sir." Moran said.

"Any ships nearby?"

"Negative, sir." Merriell reported.

"Could they have been destroyed or crashed on the planet? Nycz asked.

"I'm not picking up any debris, ion trails, or anything that would suggest that they crashed into the planet or have been destroyed." Merriell said. "However, I am picking up a faint reading. Possibly a metallic object."

"Commander, I want you to send an away team down there and investigate." Allensworth said turning to Sparhawk.

"Aye, sir. Merriell, Fulks. You're with me." Sparhawk said heading to the turbolift. "Doctor Plumley, Zofchak, meet us in transporter room two, we're beaming down to the surface."

"On my way." Plumley said over the intercom.

"On my way, Commader." Zofchak replied almost instantly after.

Minutes later, the two officers reported to the transporter room ready to be beamed down to the surface. A stocky man stood behind the controls. He was already graying but he didn't seem any older than thirty-five.

"I've got the coordinates locked to the northern continent." The transporter chief said.

"How close will we be to the object?" Sparhawk asked.

"Practically right on top of it, sir."

"Very good." Sparhawk said. He looked to his officers to see that they were in place on the pads. "Energize."

The five officers felt their bodies dematerialize and a brief second later, re-materialize on the planet's surface.

Sineron Two was nothing like Commander Sparhawk had imagined. Upon hearing their beam-down location to be on the northern continent, thoughts of a desolate, frigid glacier crossed his mind.

He was mildly surprised when a crisp, cool breeze rushed across the rocky terrain and greeted his skin. The terrain was more of a desert than anything else. A few disconsolate trees dotted the terrain amidst a field of untamed brown and yellow grasses, but for the most part, they walked upon nothing but sheer dirt and rock along the edge of a small ridge.

The sky was filled with melancholy clouds that seemed to meander endlessly through the atmosphere. The few breaks in the overcast conditions revealed a drab blue firmament hiding behind them.

"Nice place." Sparhawk mused as he started surveying the area with his tricorder.

The away team looked around and didn't see anything other than the natural terrain of Sineron Two. Sparhawk tapped his comm badge.

"Chief, are you sure you have the right coordinates?"

"Yes, sir. You should be right in front of the object." The chief replied.

"Commander, you might want to take a look at this." Zofchak called.

The rest of the team turned around to see that Zofchak was at the edge of a cliff. The others walked to him and to their surprise they found their mystery ship. Feelings of shock ran through the other four members of the away team.

"But, this is impossible." Plumley said.

"It would explain what happened to it, though." Zofchak said scanning it with his tricorder.The chief engineer lowered his tricorder and looked to his superior.

Sparhawk turned to the chief engineer. "Can readings confirm it, Dustin."

"There's no doubt, sir. According to these readings, it is in fact NX class."

Sparhawk returned his awestruck gaze to the ship that had disappeared without a trace over two hundred years ago. The NX-02, USS Columbia.


	2. Investigating the NX02

The Alexandria away team stood in total shock at the sight of the downed NX class starship. Because they were in the Gamma Quadrant, more questions arose such as why was it here and could the Dominion be involved.

"Well, let's get down there to investigate the wreckage." Sparhawk said.

"I wonder if any of them survived." Plumley said.

"If they did, they'd be dead now. Although, they might have descendants." Fulks said.

Merriell lifted his tricorder and scanned the nearby area. "I'm not picking up any settlements. But I am picking up seven life signs."

"Where?" Sparhawk asked.

"A few miles to the east from here. Nothing to worry about I'd say."

"What kind of life signs?"

Merriell checked his instrument again. "Breen."

Sparhawk's eyebrow raised. "I wonder what they'd be doing here? Well, as long as they don't come this way we'll be all right. Let's get down there and see what we can find out."

The away team started down the cliff towards the Columbia.

"Report," Allensworth said coming out of his Ready Room.

Nycz glanced briefly at Allensworth while waiting for Perim's analysis. The Captain was still concentrating on the view screen, his eyes locked on the brilliant sphere.

"Two Breen vessels have just entered the system," Perim announced. "A warship and a smaller support vessel of unknown design."

"Hmm," Nycz said curiously. "A science vessel?"

Allensworth looked back this time. "Maybe." He took in a deep sigh. "Maybe not. Hail them."

They waited patiently for several moments for the Breen to respond. But with each passing second, Nycz's faith in the Breen answering the hail diminished, until he became certain they wouldn't respond. Apparently, Allensworth reached that point soon thereafter. He turned to the aft bridge with a look of morbid discontent.

"No response," Perim confirmed.

Allensworth nodded disappointedly. "Keep trying."

At that moment, Sparhawk's voice came over the intercom. "Sparhawk to Alexandria."

"Go ahead, Commander."

"I believe we've found the source of the distress call."

"Which is?"

"The Columbia."

"The Columbia? The NX-02?"

"The same."

"What is it doing here in the Gamma Quadrant?"

"That's what we looking to find out."

"Keep me posted. Allensworth out."

Sparhawk and his team entered the ship through an entry hatch on the side of the ship. The ship was dark and the sounds of creatures filled the small corridors of the second warp five vessel. The away team clicked on their wrist mounted lights and surveyed the area as they walked. Sparhawk looked to Merriell who had his tricorder out in front of him. Alex noticed his commander's look and knew what he was about to ask.

"There are no humanoid life signs, sir."

Sparhawk wasn't at all surprised by this fact but he figured he'd ask anyway.

"Dustin, I want you to get down to Engineering and see what you can get any power to the systems. Alex go with him. Plumley head to sickbay. Fulks and I are heading to the bridge."

The other three nodded before heading off in their seperate directions. Moments later, Zofchak and Merriell entered the small Engineering room.

"Man, I don't know how they worked like this." Merriell said. "They seem like they'd be working shoulder to shoulder."

"Yeah it seems a bit cramped in here." Zofchak said as he inspected the power systems at the main generator.

The two lieutenant commanders did what they could to get the ship's systems online. Even though they tried to get the computer online, Zofchak figured that it wouldn't work being that the ship was over two hundred years old and with the amount of time it had been sitting here, he had further doubt that any life would come to the ship's computer. Merriell thought along the same lines.

Sparhawk and Fulks reached the bridge via ladder in the turboshaft. Lucky for them, the turbolife door was blown open. Probably caused from when the ship crashed. The security chief and first officer stepped carefully around the old ship. They walked through the bridge as if it was going to break apart at any moment. Sparhawk stepped over to the navigation station and pressed a few buttons. Nothing. Fulks pressed a few at the communications area and got the same result. Sparhawk tapped his combadge.

"Sparhawk to Zofchak. Dustin, how it coming down there?"

"Sir, I'd have a better shot at beating a Klingon one on one with a bat'leth than getting the computer up and running."

"Understood. Go ahead and head for the exit. Sparhawk out."

He tapped it again only this time he was calling for the person in sickbay.

"Sparhawk to Doctor Plumley. How are you faring?"

"Sickbay is completly empty. It's a mess but it looks as if it's been raided." the dark haired doctor replied.

"Understood, meet us at the exit. Sparhawk out."

The first officer tapped his badge to end the transmission. He looked over at Fulks who was trying his hand at the controls to which the lieutenant noticed and shook his head. Sparhawk understood the expression.

"Let's go."

At that moment, the ship shook as if it were in battle. Sparhawk looked to Fulks with complete confusion. They left the bridge and headed for the exit.

Breen ships coming about," Perim reported from the helm. "Bearing one-one-eight, mark seven."

"Red alert," Allensworth snapped. He turned to the Trill as the red alert klaxon began to sound. "What about the away team?"

She hastily accessed sensors. "The Breen were firing interfereametric pulses at the surface," she said. "We won't be beam them up until the residual energy signatures clear up."

Allensworth frowned and turned his attention back to the view screen. Both Breen ships were rapidly approaching, looking like a duo straight from hell. It was a sight that sent chills down Allensworth's spine.

"They're locking weapons," Perim said.

"Evasive maneuvers, Ensign."

The Trill hastily complied, and the Alexandria swerved out of the way just as the Breen's energy weapon hurtled at the ship. They experienced only a minor rumbling as the pulse skimmed their shields, but neither vessel was deterred. The smaller of the two hastily stormed past the Alexandria while the larger warship came to a dramatic halt directly in front of them.

"They're hailing us," Perim reported.

"Better late than never," Allensworth muttered. He quickly inspected his uniform for any aberrations before bringing himself to his feet. "On screen."

Moments later, the mysterious image of a Breen Thot appeared on the view screen. Unable to see beneath the refrigeration unit, Allensworth had no idea what the Breen was about to say or do, and so, he simply placed a diplomatic smile upon his face.

"This is Captain Jermaine Allensworth of the Federation Starship Alexandria. You have stranded five of my officers, threatened my ship and are way outside your territory. Why?"

The Breen seemed to stare back at him for several moments, as if the questions were so stupid they did not require an answer. But finally, the Thot barked out a series of cryptic, nearly incomprehensible bleeps that were the Breen language.

Allensworth sighed. "Thot Lor," he said patiently. "We're not leaving without our people."

The Breen provided yet another series of remarks, this time they were louder, and sounded more clipped.

"Your actions warrant a war with the Federation. Is that what you want?"

The Breen chirped out one simple blurb.

"I didn't think so. Perhaps if you return our crewmen and tell me what it is you're looking for, we can reach a peaceful end to this situation," Allensworth proposed.

Lor's eyepiece fluttered with green light. He emitted a series of stern, strident bleeps before slamming his fist on the console before him—effective ending the communication.

Allensworth sighed. "'Guests of the Breen Confederacy,'" he mocked quietly. "How generous of them."


	3. Abduction

Following their confrontation with Thot Lor, Allensworth made haste to conjure what was left of the senior staff in the his ready room to review their options. The only remnants of his senior staff was Counselor Nycz. Because of her experience on the Enterprise, Allensworth had asked Kell Perim to join them regardless of her rank. As he watched to two females walk into his ready room, Allensworth knew their options were already few and far between.

"Even with tactical capabilities of this Sovereign class ship, there is still no way we can take out both Breen ships," Allensworth said bluntly. It wasn't his favorite way to start off a meeting, but given the situation, it was the best he could do.

"What about the Defiant from the Deep Space Nine?" Perim inquired a moment later.

She was so filled with good thoughts. Allensworth deeply admired that quality in the Trill, and solemnly wondered what happened to that quality in himself. "It would take them too long to get here," he explained. "By the time they get here, the manifolds could be all that's left of the ship."

Perim nodded. As Allensworth watched the Trill, he saw a very small piece of that youthful optimism die. Now, the captain knew where his own optimism had gone. Slowly, Allensworth cast his eyes upon the counselor as her lips started to part. As Allensworth understood it, she was a very kind, generous and intelligent person. And if Allensworth had learned anything about Nycz, it was that she didn't stop until the job was done, and done right. In that spirit, Nycz carefully placed a padd before her. "I've been thinking about a rescue operation," she said carefully.

"Transporters are definitely out of the question," Perim said before she could say anything else. "The Breen's scattering field will deflect the transporter beam no matter what."

Nycz slightly glanced at the Trill "My plans did not include the transporter," she said. "I was thinking, instead of using the Captain's Yacht for tactical support, we could use it to go to the surface and retrieve them.

"If we use the nearby moon to obscure it's energy signatures, the Breen won't even know what's going on until it's too late."

Allensworth slowly nodded negatively. "And once they do, they'll destroy it," he determined. "It's too dangerous without reinforcements."

Nycz slightly frowned. Allensworth knew what she was going to ask next and decided to answer before she could ask.

"Wait for the reinforcements to arrive," Allensworth said. "It's only a couple of hours."

"In a couple of hours, they could all be dead," Nycz protested. "With all due respect, we have to act now!"

She illustrated her point well, and after a few moments of additional consideration, Allensworth had to agree with her, partially. "We'll wait as long as we can," he said. "But if you see anything unusual on sensors, we'll do what needs to be done."

"Thank you, Captain," Nycz said.

Allensworth smiled.

The away team walked out of the Columbia and into the daylight. Sparhawk turned to his colleagues.

"Let's..."

He couldn't get the rest of his sentence out due to a disruptor blast hitting the ground near him. The officers ducked for cover around the Alexandria. Plumley ducked back through the entry hatch while the other four took cover behind large rocks and panels sticking out of the ship. They looked up to the top of the cliff where they had first arrived to see seven Breen standing there with weapons aimed at them. The Starfleet away team drew their own phasers. Sparhawk slightly looked over the edge of the rock and fired. The blast of fiery orange energy sailed toward the Breen's position, but to Sparhawk's dismay, the target stepped aside before being hit. Once the blast had passed him, the target returned the favor, blasting off a small chunk of the rock in front of Sparhawk.

_Well, this was unexpected._

Kell Perim looked at her sensor board with a bit of worry. She then turned to the captain who had just sit down in his command chair.

"Captain, I'm picking up phaser fire on the ground below."

"What?"

He stood up from his chair and walked over behind ops.

"It would appear that the away team is fighting those seven Breen that we picked up earlier."

"Hail the Breen ship." Allensworth ordered.

Perim pressed a few buttons to hail the alien ship but nothing after that happened.

"No response, sir." The Trill replied.

"Damn it." Allensworth said.

After exchanging phaser fire with the Breen for several more minutes, The Alexandria away team was eventually overrun by the Breen forces. Following their surrender, the Breen simply brought the five to the hill top, erected the forcefield around them, and continued to work on something as if nothing had happened.

"I wonder what they want with us?" Plumley whispered to the others as she watched the Breen peck away at the controls on their mini-computer. Slowly, she locked eyes with the others.

While the Fulks, Merriell and Sparhawk seemed as baffled as she, the wide eyes of Dustin Zofchak sparked more than a little concern.

"I'm not sure," he whispered, "but the Breen might be attempting to fabricate some Ketracel White." The chief engineer said.

Sparhawk suddenly knew why Zofchak's eyes were so wide. Ketracel White was most often associated with one of the most lethal killing forces ever encountered by the Federation: the Jem'Hadar.

"Are you certain?" He asked.

"Before the Breen…'borrowed' my tricorder, I detected trace amounts of yridium bicantizine in the soil, as well as several other compounds necessary to create White," he explained quietly. "My best guess is that's what the Breen have been hiding and the reason they're here."

"Why would the Breen want Ketracel White?" Merriell inquired, perhaps louder than Sparhawk would have preferred given the circumstances.

Sparhawk watched as the words he most feared rolled off from Zofchak's tongue,

"To create a Jem'Hadar."

"But the Dominion cloning facilities were all destroyed after the war," Fulks countered.

"Did you personally oversee the destruction of every facility? Who knows how many secret installations were left in tact," Zofchak whispered. "Besides, what's stopping the Breen from creating new facilities? They had access to all of the Dominion's computer databases for several months. I'm sure there's a recipe for Jem'Hadar leftover somewhere."

"Given the extremely minimal data we have on the Breen, I'd say that there's a fair chance of that," Sparhawk concurred.

Suddenly, one of the Breen turned his attention away from his work and consulted rather loudly with his companions. With his, and the other's comm badges in the clutches of the Breen, Sparhawk had no idea what the Breens' strident conversing meant. In this case, actions speak louder than words.

And the Breen certainly started to take action. Several moments later, two Breen marched over to the forcefield and lowered it. Sparhawk watched quietly as the Breen slowly protruded into their makeshift cell and reached for Dustin Zofchak.

Quickly, Merriell lashed out against the offending Breen in an attempt to prevent Zofchak's abduction, but he quickly found himself on the ground, and Zofchak being dragged away. Before he could get up, the remaining Breen pointed his weapon at the other three and, without hesitation, fired.

Seeing that resistance was hopeless, Merriell closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. A few moments later, it came…

Zofchak wasn't sure if their refrigeration units were responsible or not, but the Breen were most definitely a lot stronger than they appeared. In fact, the grip the Breen had around his chest was so tight, that Zofchak found it difficult to breathe.

"What do you want?" he rasped, despite the pain.

The Breen violently dropped Zofchak down in the lone chair beside the computer and screeched a few short, clipped tones. But before he could even get into a marginally comfortable position, another Breen had already started to probe Zofchak with some sort of medical device. He poked and prodded for several minutes before finally burrowing the device deep in Dustin's spine. Zofchak felt it penetrate several vertebrae before he stopped feeling anything at all. He willed himself to move, but nothing happened. He couldn't even move his neck. As his panicked state grew, Zofchak watched in horror as the Breen began probing him again. It was much shorter in duration this time, and not painful, presumably because of the probe imbedded into Zofchak's spine. Nevertheless, it was thoroughly unpleasant. As the Breen 'medic' finished, he slowly brought his head down to Zofchak's and stared at him for several moments. Unable to look away, Zofchak simply stared back at the green lights scrolling across the Breen's helmet where the eyes should be. For a brief moment, he thought he could see something beyond the green lights… an eye, maybe two…or three, four or five for that matter. But an instant later, the Breen looked away. He tapped a button on his uniform, and moments later, both he and Zofchak beamed away.

As Zofchak opened his eyes, he realized that he had not been beamed back to the Alexandria. In fact, it was far worse. He was now on the Breen ship. It was a dark, ominous interior, accented by a mysterious green aura that seemed to emanate from the walls. The transporter chamber they were in was extremely small, consisting of nothing but the transporter pad and the control station, only a few meters apart. And as his Breen companion shoved him toward the doors, Zofchak noticed a few other things, the restoration of his motor functions, among other things. But the most intriguing bit was the fact that the Breen ship was not the frigid icebox one would expect of the Breen. In fact, it was rather comfortable—yet the Breen still wore refrigeration suits. For a moment, Dustin considered the notion that it was to accommodate him, but then he quickly realized the Breen weren't that nice. There was another reason. Rather violently, the Breen shoved Zofchak into the tight, dark corridor and steered him through several maze-like corridors adjoining the transporter room. After what seemed like hours of navigation, they finally arrived in a rather large, open chamber with several coffin-like alcoves adorning all three walls. The Breen steered Zofchak toward the small group of Breen standing near one of the corner-alcoves. The Breen conversed amongst themselves for several minutes. Still without his communicator, Dustin understood none of their strident babble, but from the tone of their annoying voices, they weren't talking about sports. As the conversation came to a head, all of the Breen suddenly stopped chattering and turned their helmeted heads in Dustin's general direction. Zofchak's heart stopped as it jumped into his throat. His breathing stopped. His eyes seemed to be closing in on him. And before he knew it, the Breen had shoved him into one of the empty alcoves and closed him behind a forcefield of some sort. The Breen did nothing but watch from outside the alcove as Zofchak felt a bright light beating down upon him, and a faint tingling sensation throughout his body. Just when he expected some sort of crude medical instrument to start slicing through his body, it ended. All of it. The light turned off, the forcefield lowered, and the Breen dragged Zofchak out of the alcove and shoved him aside. Curiously, the Breen were also deactivating the neighboring alcove. Thought the Breen were standing in his way, Zofchak was able to make out the distinct outline of something behind the forcefield in the alcove. As the energy barrier flicked out of existence, Zofchak watched in horror as the Breen extended their gloved hands to the emerging figure from the alcove. And what Dustin Zofchak saw almost literally scared him to death. A scaly hand. A scaly, reptilian face. A bony crest. A lock of haphazard black hair. A malevolent smile. A Jem'Hadar.


	4. Skipping Plan A

Dustin watched quietly from the shadows as the Breen swarmed around their new creation. They ran a plethora of medical scans on the Jem'Hadar before inserting a small container of Ketracel White into the soldier's uniform. The Jem'Hadar smiled malevolently as the substance started feeding into his body.

"Victory is life," he grunted.

The very sound of sound of his voice sent chills down Zofchak's spine. Aside from the fear, Dustin could feel anger build up inside of him. As a Starfleet officer he has been able to think rationally through his emotions and right now his anger would get him killed. The Breen chattered a series of disgruntled blips and bleeps at the Jem'Hadar after a few supplemental moments of revelry. The Jem'Hadar suddenly cast his eerie glare in Dustin's direction.

"The human?" he sneered.

The Breen continued their dialogue with the Jem'Hadar, this time a more prolonged conversation. Their creation said little during the entire exchange, little more than a few grunts or acknowledgments. But Zofchak understood none of it, as the Breen had yet to reissue him his communicator, or a Universal Translator. Until they did, he would be completely apart from any Breen conversations. Again, their chattering stopped, and the Jem'Hadar took several steps toward Dustin . The Breen slowly stepped aside, giving him a clear path to Zofchak . As the Jem'Hadar approached, Dustin took a few hesitant steps back. He knew he had little chance of avoiding the evil incarnate, but still, he tried to avoid conflict. Until he felt himself back into a wall. Upon seeing this, the Jem'Hadar smiled, and clenched his fists.

Sparhawk slowly awoke from his stun nap to find that the Breen were gone. His shipmates were still with him and the forcefield was still active but he saw no sign of the refridgerated aliens. Pushing that concern aside he looked over to the others. They were awake and sitting quietly in the middle of the erected field. Sparhawk sat up and scooted over to them.

"Where did our artic friends scurry off to?" Sparhawk asked.

"I haven't seen them since I awoke. It seems they took Dustin and then beamed back to their ship, leaving us here." Plumley said.

"Great." Sparhawk mused.

On the Alexandria, Kell Perim responded to the screaming sensors.

"Sir, I'm only picking up four of the five away team members, sir."

"Which ones?"

"All but Lieutenant Commander Zofchak, sir."

"Is he dead?"

"I don't think so, sir. I can't find a body. It would appear that he is no longer on the planet."

"Where the hell is he then?" Allensworth wondered.

"He could be on the Breen ship." Perim replied.

"I don't know why he would be over there but I'm done waiting." Allensworth said. "We're going ahead with plan B."

"What about plan A?" The Trill asked.

"No longer an option." Allensworth said as he pressed a button on his command chair. "Counselor Nycz, are you ready down there?"

"Yes, Captain. Whenever you are."

Allensworth sat in his command chair, leaning upward a bit. He had no reason to distrust, Nycz's plan no matter how radical it was.

"Helm, set a course for Sineron Two, full impulse." Allensworth said.

_Victory is life._

The thought surged through Storgrath's mind over and over. He lived to serve the Founders. But the Founders were gone. The Jem'Hadar paused for a moment to consider the thought.

_If the Founders are gone, whom do I serve? The target flinched. It tried to escape. That was not acceptable. Defeat is not an option._

Quickly, Storgrath stopped the fleeing target by placing a firm hand upon the Zofchak's stopped dead in its tracks and turned around to finally look death in the eye.

"What do you want?"

The Breen leader intervened and released Storgrath's grip on the target. He showed Dustin a Federation communication device before closing it in his gloved hand. "Isn't it obvious?" the Breen sneered through the voice being simulated by the translator in the communicator. "We want you."

"Me? Why?" Dustin exclaimed.

"The Breen have acquired the ability to clone new Jem'Hadar. But we require them to be efficient in defeating human targets. You are human. Using the cloning facilities, and your DNA sequences, we have extrapolated a Jem'Hadar which can summarily destroy any human target with maximum efficiency."

"But you also need Ketracel White," Zofchak said. "That's why you've invaded Sineron."

"It is. Soon, the Breen will have enough White to command legions of Jem'Hadar soldiers. What the Dominion started, the Breen shall finish. And we will start with you." Thot Lor gazed at his creation. "Storgrath, destroy him."

Moments later, Lor dropped the communicator on the floor and crushed it with the heel of his boot. As the delicate device shattered, Storgrath grinned. He turned to Zofchak and resumed his attack.

As the Starfleet officer burst down into the bowels of the ship, Thot Lor grinned mercilessly behind his mask.

_Humans were weak and foolish, and they deserved every bit of agony inflicted upon them by the Jem'Hadar. Once this human was disposed of, the other four hostages should make for an equally interesting time._

Suddenly, one of Lor's subordinates approached him.

(ALL SAID IN THEIR LANGUAGE)

"Yes?" he inquired, turning his attention away from the hunt.

"Thot Lor," said the officer quietly, as if to keep from drawing attention to himself. "The Federation ship is moving. Heading zero-seven-six mark one."

The coordinates did not surprise Lor. "The planet," he bemoaned. "I had hoped to take the ship with its crew in tact for additional combat training for the Jem'Hadar. We will have to select a different target for that purpose."

"Then what are your orders?"

"Set an intercept course, destroy them."

"The Breen are coming about," Ensign Hoyt reported from the helm.

"They're locking weapons," Perim added a moment later.

Allensworth nodded. He had been anticipating such a maneuver. They wouldn't just let them waltz down to the planet's surface and reclaim the away team without a fight. But little did the Breen know what tricks were still up Allensworth's sleeve.

The Alexandria might take a minor beating, but given the crew's confidence about this plan, Allensworth was certain they would succeed in at the very least, keeping the Breen on their toes. "Evasive maneuvers, Ensign," he ordered before rising to his feet. "How far are we from the atmosphere?"

"About 300,000 kilometers," Hoyt said.

Allensworth slowly approached the Ensign from behind. "Have you ever flown anything larger than a shuttle into a planet's atmosphere?"

Hoyt smiled. "Not exactly," he admitted. "But, I am fully versed in the procedure."

"Being versed and being adept are two different things, Ensign," Allensworth reminded him. "Good luck."

Hoyt returned his attention to the controls. "Thank you, Captain," he mused.

Allensworth hastily returned to his command chair. "Steady as she goes!"

Dustin raced through the haphazard corridors of the Breen ship. Some lurched, twisted and turned, while others seemed to go on a straight path forever. But they were all drenched with an eerie green hue, and none of them provided ample cover from the rampaging Jem'Hadar several meters behind him. Zofchak would duck into a corridor, Storgrath was right behind him. He would try to double-back and loose the Jem'Hadar, but somehow, the vile hunter always ended up in front of him. But this wouldn't continue for much longer, and Dustin knew it. He was worn and tired. His feet ached, his back felt broken, and his heart felt as if it was about to leap out of his chest. Furthermore, he had that annoying dry feeling in his mouth. Unfortunately, rest was not currently an option being presented by the Jem'Hadar. It was do or die. As he trotted through the corridors, Dustin could hear Storgrath drawing closer. He looked for a way out, or anything that could give him the advantage, if only for a moment. All he needed was a minor diversion. But nothing showed itself.

As a pale blue aura filled the bridge, Allensworth could feel the exosphere beginning to buffet the Alexandria's shields. The viewscreen portrayed that feeling in an even more dramatic measure, since little more than a few stars could be seen amidst the glowing oranges and yellows of the descending starship. But so far, Hoyt seemed to be performing his duties more than adequately, as their ride had been a more or less smooth one. Marred by only one or two instances of turbulence, the Ensign's piloting skills seemed to be in perfect condition.

When suddenly, the ship was rocked by a massive explosion on its shields. The lights flickered momentarily, and Allensworth swerved about haphazardly before everything calmed down. "Report?" he demanded.

"It's the Breen," Perim said. "They've opened fire."

"Divert all auxiliary power to dorsal shielding," Allensworth ordered. "We don't have time to go and play with the Breen."

They fired again. This time, their burst of teal energy sailed past the Alexandria and plowed straight into the surface. The resulting explosion was hardly visible from this height, but given the fact that it was visible at all, indicated to Allensworth that the Breen weren't throwing rocks. He pressed a button on his arm panel "Can you get a lock on them yet, Counselor?" he asked.

Counselor Nycz stood in the transporter room with the transporter chief toggling the controls.

"Not yet, sir" Nycz said. "But I've got sensor readings…" Her voice trailed off upon seeing the readings.

"What?"

"I'm picking up four comm signals." She said.

"Can you get a lock on them?"

"I'm trying," Nycz said amidst a barrage of error messages. "But we're still too far away. The Breen's dampening field is still too strong. We have to get closer."

"Boost the annular confinement beam," Allensworth suggested.

"No effect," Nycz shot back. "We're going to have to descend even further!"

"Do it," Allensworth ordered, realizing they were in too deep now to turn back. They had nothing to lose, except five senior officers. And so, he sighed, and watched the Alexandria's descent into the planet known as Sineron Two.

Dustin Zofchak knew it would be too much longer before Storgrath would catch up with him. In fact, he believed the Jem'Hadar was attempting to lull him into a false sense of security by leaving him alive for this long. Dustin knew he would try something along those lines, and so, why wouldn't Storgrath? Panting furiously for breath, Dustin could feel the skin of evil bearing down upon him like a great, ominous force. Along with that sense of impending doom was a heightened sense of awareness. The adrenaline flowing throughout his body was giving way to the primal senses that drove every human being in a dire situation such as this. It was no longer Dustin in control, it was instinct. And instinct, in its infinite, great wisdom sent Dustin into a dark corridor nearby. It was a dead end.

For a moment, Dustin's better judgment took over, wondering why he had just doomed himself. But in that brief moment of clarity, he spotted a loose computer panel on the wall. If this ship were like any other, there would be a large dose of voltage behind that panel. Quickly, Zofchak scurried over to the loose panel and pried it from the wall. Behind it were a cacophony of conduits and similarly organic counterparts used to accommodate the organic parts of the ship. But he had no idea what conduit to pick. The flashing blue one looked tempting, but so did the shimmering red one running parallel to it. Ultimately, he chose the conduit most reminiscent of the rest of the ship, the murky green one running adventitiously through the middle. As Zofchak ripped the conduit from the wall, Storgrath's shadowy figure appeared at the end of the corridor. The Jem'Hadar stood in silence for several moments before taking a few steps into the darkened passageway.

Dustin's grip on the conduit only tightened. It seemed like it would be a worthy implement of war, given the voracious stream of intense energy flowing out of the torn conduit's end.

Finally, Storgrath sprung into action. He stormed down the corridor at top speed. Dustin could feel the deck plates vibrating as the Jem'Hadar approached. But he failed to properly calculate Storgrath's speed, and before Dustin was ready to react, the Jem'Hadar violently pounced onto its target. Dustin squirmed rampantly as Storgrath began to pound him with his fists. But is efforts were futile. The first blow was a direct hit to his abdominal region. The next impacted his jaw, and the next, his chest.

The bridge was slowly starting to accumulate a fog of smoke as the Breen's repeated attacks began to take their toll. While the atmosphere prevented the Alexandria from returning fire, it also deflected most of the Breen's payload, it was that small amount that was not deflected that was wreaking havoc.

"Status?" Allensworth demanded. The ground loomed now closer than ever. They had to be in range.

"We're in range," Nycz confirmed. "But I'm having trouble locking onto their individual patterns. There's just too much interference from the Breen's fire."

Allensworth sighed. They hadn't come all this way just to be stopped by a little excess energy. He touched his comm badge. "Medical team to transporter room three right away"

"On our way." A man's voice said in the place of Plumley's.

Four pillars of light shimmered into existance on the transporter pad just as the medical team arrived. Plumley, Sparhawk, Merriell and Fulks materialized on the platform. The medical team rushed to their side to assist them off the pad. Nycz touched her comm badge.

"Nycz to Allensworth. Transport complete. We just need Dustin now."

"Understood. We'll get as close as we can to the Breen ship."

Things began to go dark. As the pain mounted, Dustin wasn't even sure where he was being hit. He gave resistance one last try before reaching the decision that the battle was lost. His hand stumbled upon the warm tube he instantly recognized as the conduit. At first, his hand refused to wrap around the conduit. It seemed to have shut down with the rest of his body, but upon a second attempt, Dustin was able to will it to function. His hand clutched the conduit and slowly started raising it upward. Storgrath, still engrossed in beating Dustin, didn't even seem to flinch, that was until the green energies of conduit surged into the side of his chest. The Jem'Hadar's attack stopped abruptly. Storgrath skittered to the floor with a series of involuntary jerks before crashing into the wall. Upon seeing that, Dustin dropped the conduit and wasn't done there. Fear had completely disappeared within Zofchak now it was anger, more like revenge. He mustered the energy he had left and charged at the Jem'Hadar. He flat out tackled him as if he was playing football. After pulling the Ketracel White tube from the Jem'Hadar, he clasped his hands together and repeatedly bashed them into the Jem'Hadar's face. All he could think about was his sister.

"I got him." Nycz said. "Energizing."

Zofchak continued to beat the Jem'Hadar into submission as he and his opponent was taken in a blue swirl of light. Dustin continued to beat him even after re-materializing on the Alexandria's transporter pad. Nycz and the transporter chief ran over to him and pulled him off the dead Dominion soldier. Zofchak was trying to break free and go at it some more.

"Dustin, Dustin!" Nycz called. "Calm down, you're home."

Dustin then realized where he was and relaxed. He was just now comprehending that he had just unleashed on the Jem'Hadar and was back on the Alexandria. Nycz hit her comm badge.

"Nycz to Allensworth, we got him."

"Helm, get us out of here. Full impulse." Allensworth ordered.


	5. Thinking Back

The Alexandria flew out of the atmosphere and into space. The two Breen ships were in pursuit. They flew on both sides of the ship firing at it. Allensworth figured he wasn't going to be able to get out of here without a fight.

"Helm, full stop." He said.

Even though confused, Ensign Hoyt did as he was told and commanded the Sovereign class vessel to stop. The two Breen vessels shot right past the ship. Allensworth stood ready waiting for the Breen to reappear. Allensworth saw two flashes of light and then the two Breen ships came into view.

"Lock on to the smaller ship."

"Weapons locked, sir."

"Fire."

The Alexandria unloaded a barrage of photon torpedoes and phasers upon the smaller Breen vessel. The ship didn't stand much of a chance against the mighty Starfleet vessel. Once that ship exploded, the other Breen ship came about to attack the Alexandria.

"Lieutenant, Quantum torpedoes."

"Ready, sir."

"Fire."

The Alexandria shot four blue quantum torpedoes that hit the Breen ship head on. The ship was stil coming. The two ends of the phaser array glowed and moved towards each other. Once they met, they fired a phaser beam right at the bridge of the Breen ship. The bridge exploded and the Breen ship was dead in space. The Ops station started beeping.

"Sir, I'm picking up a chain reaction coming from inside the Breen ship." Perim said.

"Let's get out of here. Set a course for the wormhole at maximum warp. Hit it." Allensworth ordered.

The Alexandria spun around as its nacelles glowed that sent it into warp.

_Captain's Log: Stardate: 57179.6. We have just entered the wormhole and on our way back to the Alpha Quadrant. The away team is recovering from their encounter with the Breen. __I had hoped to investigate the wreckage of the Columbia and maybe figure out what happened to Captain Erika Hernandez and her crew. Now that Starfleet knows where the downed ship is, they should send a few ships out to investigate. _ I hope one day we'll find out. Commander Zofchak has asked for a few days to fully recover from the experience with the Jem'Hadar, both physically and mentally. I hope to see him back on duty soon.

Zofchak walked out of the bathroom in his quarters, drying his hair. He had just gotten out of the Sonic Shower and was ready to relax. He sat down on the couch in front of a table that had a picture on it. He grabbed the picture and looked at it as he leaned back. The picture was of him and two girls in Starfleet uniforms. Dustin was in the middle with his arms around both girls and he held them close. All three of them had smiles on their faces. At that moment, the door chimed.

"Come in." He said without taking his eyes of the picture.

The doors slid away from one another as the visitor entered. Dustin looked up to see Counselor Nycz standing in the door way. He set the picture down and stood up.

"What can I do for you, Counselor?" He asked.

"Well, I was hoping that would've been my line." She responded.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when we beamed you back from the Breen ship and you were striking the Jem'Hadar soldier, you seemed different."

"Different? How so?" Dustin said trying to act as if he didn't know.

"I think you know what I mean." She responded.

Dustin sat down and looked at the picture on the table. Christine sat next to him and glanced at the picture.

"You and your sisters?"

Dustin nodded. "They graduated from the academy two years after you and I did. This picture was taken right after the incident with the Borg. The Enterprise was under repairs and we were granted shore leave. My two sisters just happened to be on Earth at the time so we had this picture taken. We each have a copy of this picture." Dustin leaned back and a smile spread across his face. "Heh, this one time back home, the three of us were out walking and this rain storm came out of no where. We ran back home to avoid getting wet but it was futile considering we were soaked just standing in the rain for five seconds. We were running along side this hill and Amanda slipped on some mud and began to fall over the hill. I grabbed her but I began to fall too and then Avery grabbed me but it didn't help and all three of us went tumbling down this hill. We were covered in mud from head to toe when we got back home."

Christine smiled at the story but her smile faded when she saw Dustin's fade.

"Something happened, didn't it?" She asked.

"Every Starfleet officer did their time during the Dominion war and the three of us were no different. Amanda was aboard the Solent, I was on the Enterprise and Avery was stationed to guard a communications array on AR-558 in the Chin'toka system. She was killed during a Dominion assualt while Captain Sisko was there. I contacted Captain Sisko to find out what happened. He told me that she fought bravely and fullfilled her duties as a Starfleet officer. I asked how she was killed and he told me, that her phaser rifle's power chip was out and Jem'Hadar soldiers had overtaken that end of the barricade. Sisko said that as he was firing at the other's and that he saw her swing the rifle around like a bat and take out a few soldiers before two of them had jumped on her and killed her. It wasn't just a simple phaser blast to the chest or a knife in the back, they beat her repeatedly until she was dead and I don't think they stopped there. Sisko said they didn't stop until he was able to shoot them himself. I failed her. Her big brother, who had been there for her all of her life, wasn't there for her when she needed me the most."

Tears formed at the base of Dustin's eye and escaped down his cheek. Christine put her arm around Dustin and pulled him close to her.

"All I could think about while I was being chased by that Jem'Hadar on the Breen ship was that I was going to die. And once I got the upper hand, All I could think about was Avery and how she died. That's when I snapped. I wanted to do to him what they did to Avery. The three of us were supposed to meet up sometime after the war was over but it was just Amanda and I that showed up. The two of us plan to go to Avery's grave site every year and have a picnic right there on the site."

"I think Avery would like that very much." Christine said.

Even though, it didn't really make much of a difference physically, but just the thought of Avery smiling made Dustin feel a little bit better.


End file.
